N4L 095: "Whole" by T. Colin Campbell, PhD with Howard Jacobson, PhD

 SUMMARY Together, T. Colin Campbell and Howard Jacobson have written the book Whole to revolutionize the way we think about food. Jacobson’s early Amazon review of The China Study put him in contact with the author Dr. T. Colin Campbell. Now, years later, the two have collaborated to write Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition. Although the book is a second plea to get us to fundamentally change our approach to eating by adopting a whole foods plant-based (WFPB) diet, Whole is not a diet book. Instead, it’s organized to convince both the lay reader and the most serious student of nutritional science that our bodies are designed to thrive when we eat real food found in nature.  KEY POINTS “Reductionism” – looking at science in bits and pieces instead of at the whole picture Individuals and entities with a huge stake in the food industry feel threatened by the scientific findings gathered in the book. Campbell is touted as a visionary while also being vilified, including efforts by his employer Cornell University to block him from teaching certain classes. The whole species hangs in the balance because of the food we eat.  The ideal human diet can be summarized in 66 words. Some foods considered “unhealthy” can still be called “safe”; others are not even considered safe. Our bodies are equipped to absorb from foods what we need in the moment. Like catching a ball, our bodies just know what to do with real food without thinking about it. “Lifestyle medicine” recently became a board-certified sub-specialty of primary care. QUOTES FROM JACOBSON “The reason that Whole needs to exist is because of the resistance to this movement [to eat a WFPB diet].” “Our system is set up to provide profit to for-profit corporations, and everyone else in society has allowed them to dictate.” “Every other animal on the planet that feeds itself…[is] not reading books on nutrition. They are not walking around with calculators. They are simply eating what they enjoy eating and what’s available in the quantities available to them…We humans evolved [that way, too].” “Our bodies can interact with a peach, and they know what to do with the peach.” “We will never have enough information to know it all, and we don’t need it…Just eat foods in accordance with nature and our nature, and we will most likely be lean and healthy.” “If human beings needed to combine foods in order to live, we’d all be dead!” BUY Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition RECOMMENDATION BUY Forks Over Knives (DVD) Connect with Dr. Howard Jacobson at Well Start Health, his online lifestyle medicine program to help people change their health destiny. Connect with us on social media! Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube Website Special thanks… Music Credit Sound Editing Credit